Optimize Your Twitter Experience With This Simple Method

Tools like Socedo allow you to engage with as many leads as you like and build a community of like-minded people. However, once your circle of connections starts growing, your Twitter timeline starts to feel like a blackhole to get lost in. So, bring on the Twitter lists!

Twitter lists have been around for a while now, but many people still don’t use them, or just don’t understand why they should use them. But in fact, these lists are a great way to optimize your Twitter experience and tailor it to best fit your needs. Here we’ve gathered some unique ways that you can use lists to drive engagement and make the most of the time you spend online.

First Things, First

Before we talk about ways to optimize your lists, it’s important to know that Twitter lists are not for your eyes only. The lists you create can be public or private, depending on the setting you prefer and who you want to share it with. A public list can be viewed and followed by anyone, but a private list is a grouping only you can see. You’d be surprised how many people don’t know that.

Another important factor to consider is that users can add you to their lists. It may look something like this:

If someone adds you to a list titled “B2B Experts,” don’t be shy about thanking them! Twitter’s very brief post tells you how to check which lists you’re on and how to set a public versus a private list.

Now comes the fun part: deciding what kinds of lists to make! To make a list, select your icon at the top of page and select “Lists.” When you get to that page you can see what lists you’re subscibed to, are a member of (other people that added you to their list), and create a new one.

#1. Separate Business and Personal Interests

Twitter lists allow you to group together people that talk about similar topics, so they’re perfect for separating different interests. For example, you may want to create a list that contains users that tweet about the latest SEO trends and changes. You can then make another that talks about the latest PPC trends. This is great for when you want to learn more about a very specific topic or want to do research for your next blog post.

Aside from separating based on industry-specific topics, you can create lists for more personal interests. Let’s face it, it’s probably not appropriate to tweet about your “guilty pleasure” TV show, but you want to keep up with what people are saying about it. So, you can create a private Twitter list just for that, and you won’t have to reveal to everyone your secret obsession with Criminal Minds.

#2. Checking Out the Competition

So now that you’re able to monitor the conversation with fellow Criminal Minds fanatics, you may want to keep an eye out on competitors. This isn’t bad – it’s normal! Adding competitors to a private list is a good way to get inspiration, not to spy. Looking at the content they share and how they engage with customers could give you new, creative ideas to try in your company. Just be aware that you do not steal ideas and content – make it your own and your audience will reward you with higher conversions and engagements.

#3. Motivate Employees and Team Members

You may be underestimating the power lists can have within your company or department. Adding your employees or fellow team members to a Twitter list allows you to see what kind of conversations they are having online and motivates them to keep profiles up to date. This creates brand ambassadors when they share content and allows for a more swift response to feedback when everyone is held accountable for it.

Start-ups, small businesses, and enterprise level companies can benefit from adding colleagues to Twitter lists. Maybe in a small business or startup you’re able to add everyone in the company to the list – that’s great! You can get a full understanding of how everyone is engaging. In enterprise level companies you may have thousands of employees. If this is the case, there is probably than one marketing department. So, you should add other marketers from around the company to see what they’re up to. Lists of this kind can also help outsiders understand the company culture and get more users interested in your company.

#4. Keep Track of Events

As marketers, we are aware of the countless conferences that are held. Really, there’s too many to count. However, many conferences announce their key speakers before the event, and you can add those speakers to a Twitter list to keep track of what they’re saying for that event.

The great thing about adding event attendees also is that you can catch content they share that might not include the event hashtag. This could be because they forgot to add it, ran out of character space, or misspelled the event hashtag. Collecting speakers and event-goers decreases the likelihood that you’ll miss awesome tweets. Also, if you can’t make it to the event, make a list anyways. It’ll be like you’re there with everyone else!

#5. Learn From Influencers

Influencers vary from person to person and industry to industry. Creating a list of the people you look up to is a great way to keep track of cutting edge thoughts and trends. Many people think that Twitter lists can only be used for marketers who are into social media, but consider a medical researcher. By following other, more established researchers in his/her field, they can learn about some of the most recent findings from minds that they admire. You can do this for the industry you are engaged with! Your followers may appreciate you curating a list of these professionals that they can learn from as well.

Whew, I know that was a lot. And this is just a starting point for Twitter lists. The kinds of lists you can create are only limited to what you can think of, but remember they are not just for marketers. Anyone that realizes how important Twitter is for online engagement can benefit from using Twitter lists, so use this as a place to get started. We’d also love to hear how you use Twitter lists!